Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death worldwide, arising primarily from the lifestyle and food intake of individuals, as well as from congenital predispositions. Smoking, high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, engaging in a sedentary lifestyle, and diabetes are factors influencing the occurrence of heart diseases. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), heart diseases account for 12% of all deaths.
Heart diseases have worldwide assumed an epidemic status, and despite the advancements in the development of pharmaceuticals, surgical techniques and medical practices, there is still a need for providing new and improved means for preventing cardiac conditions of an individual.
For example, the cardiac condition monitoring of individuals, thus far the best way of prevention, can be performed by regularly visiting the cardiologist, in which electrocardiogram (ECG) comprises the primary means for detecting changes in the cardiac condition of an individual.
The remote monitoring known in the art comprises the use of equipment attached to the individual, in which the current ECG monitoring equipment typically remains beside the patient, not allowing for free movement or rendering the remote monitoring difficult. The current options of wireless cardiac monitoring devices generally employ: RF (radio frequency) transmitters and receptors, or communication via Bluetooth (protocol 802.15.1), restricting to a few units the number of equipment simultaneously monitored as well as the distance, which is limited to about 10-20 meters. All currently available options only send data from the patient user to the clinician, thus leaving no possibility of on-demand request; i.e., bilateral.